Color Theory: Hands-On Practice

You're never too old to finger paint, or, in this case, paint by hand! Students had a blast today covering sketchbooks with multi-hued hand prints. I over heard one young man say, "Haven't done that in a few years." In answer, another boy replied, laughing, "I've NEVER done THAT!"
We sometimes forget that not all children come from homes or backgrounds where they have the joy of just playing with paint or nice colored pencils, or even making mud pies in the back yard.
There was a fun twist to this "beginning of the term" activity which required groups to work collaboratively to accomplish the task of covering their sketchbooks with hand prints in primary, secondary and dark and light hues - 8 colors in all. Each group  had five small tubs containing one color of tempera paint: red, yellow and blue, as well as black and white. Each group member took charge of one color. They spread it on their palms and delivered prints to group members' sketchbooks. Then the real fun began as they gently 'high-fived' a classmate, giving palms a little back and forth twist, to create the secondaries as well as at least one light and one dark value of color. They knew they wouldn't be allowed to wash their hands until they were done, so it took some careful planning and coordination.
It was so fun to listen to the kids as they discovered and named the colors they created. There were some surprises such as the 'army' green which resulted from mixing black and yellow tempera. Tomorrow's Art Start questions: Why did black and yellow create a dark green? What does this tell us about the particular black paint we used? What IS black, anyway?

Process vs Product

I've been thinking a lot about the art making process versus the creation of art product. Bulletin board displays of student work may display the fruit of my teaching labors but do not always represent the great learning that takes place.
Separating my ego from the quality of art on display is not always easy. Let's face it, some artwork produced can be fairly devoid of visual interest, for all but the loving parent at home, yet I know student artists engaged and struggled and came out the other end with an acceptance of new ideas and ways of thinking.
Yes, there are a myriad art projects available on-line that will result in 100% cool-looking objects, but this canned approach to art making isn't really for me. I also don't like to sort out the "best" work to exhibit.
Sometimes, I just hand the staplers to my students and have them plaster the hallways with their work. They love it and it saves me a lot of time. However, it may be best not to try this display approach if you and/or your site administrator are perfectionists!

Art Stations

I've experimented with using Art Stations -what we used to call "centers" in elementary school-  this fall as a way to engage middle school students by giving them opportunities to make choices and work with friends. The first go around back in September was definitely a fun way to run class. The kids loved the freedom of moving from station to station at their own pace. However, it wasn't the most expedient way to reach my learning targets for the unit. Keeping track of learning targets and student achievement was difficult without adding more testing- something I am loath to do in the art room.

 So, for the second go around with the next unit I improved the system of checking student understanding after each station. However, it took both my student teacher and myself to keep up with the larger classes. I won't have that luxury in a few weeks when my student teacher moves on.

For the third go around I built the 'assessment' into a more rigorous set of expectations for the artistic end-product and also added a quiz: three questions, short written answer. This helps me meet common core literacy objectives. It was apparent from the quiz and the artwork who 'got it' and who didn't. Now, I just have to figure out what I'm going to do about the students who didn't do well on the quiz.

My basic philosophy of teaching and learning is that every kid can have an "A" if they want it. I see no issue with allowing endless re-do's except, of course, the obvious constraints of time and energy!

Ceramic Pendants

 Students learned about the Elements of Art by studying ancient symbols. I added two ipads to my classroom tools, much to the delight of my students. They found thousands of symbols online at www.symbols.com. A really cool site that allows the user to search symbols in a variety of ways, from the visual attributes to the meanings.
During a week of station work students rotated through six activities exploring signs, symbols and designs through a variety of media such as colored pencil, India ink, oil pastel and tempera paint.
They loved the freedom of moving through the stations at their own pace, working with friends and trying out different media. It was a fun, relaxed time that allowed my student teacher and me to really get to know our students as we had time to talk to individuals and small groups.

After station work the unit culminated with everyone creating several pendants in clay. One could be a modern, everyday symbol and one pendant needed to incorporate an ancient symbol into the overall design. We cut shapes from slabs, allowed them to dry to leather-hard, then carved designs into the clay. A very fun process!
We decided to paint the pendants in acrylic paint rather than glaze as this allowed the students greater control of color and detail.
I was amazed that these 7th and 8th graders, boys and girls alike, enjoyed stringing and beading and walked out of the classroom wearing their pendants! who would have thought this could be cool!

How Is A Work of Art Like a Toaster?

Wow, made it through another First-Week-Of-School! I love my students. These young teens are so talkative and yet so mute. So, so awkward and yet so sure of themselves. So cool and yet fun and funny. On Thursday we made toast and talked about how a work of art is like a toaster: when all the elements are functioning well the out-come is a complete experience like a a lovely, piece of buttered toast. This silly opening activity was a fun way to introduce the Elements of Art: line, shape, form, space, color and texture.

Breaking Bread together is a time honored tradition of connecting with others. A not so traditional ice breaker activity this week that helped us cool down while building bonds was an ice melting relay race. I gave each table group of 4-5 students an ice cube. The winning group melted their cube first. Such a simple and silly activity. We do not have air conditioning and it was a stifling 90 degrees in the art room with humidity to match. This was a very popular activity that left me with clean art tables!

Remember Your First Year?

Faithful Followers:

Do you remember being a first year teacher? Equal parts excitement and terror! Although I've been in the classroom for more than twenty years, I still experience happy anticipation and a few jitters at the thought of the first day of school! Below is an excerpt from an email I received a couple of days ago. I'm sure you all have helpful advice and suggestions for Debra. Please take a moment and respond to Debra via the comments link.

Hi!

I am a new art teacher and I am looking for some help and guidance! .....

I will be teaching 6^th grade (Art I) and combined classes of 7^th & 8^th grade (Art II & III). I am just having a hard time figuring out how to distinguish between the two classes and making sure they are not all doing the same thing......

Also, I know the techniques and processes; I am just VERY confused about order and amount of time. I was told I have to have student work ready to enter our county fair by the end of September.....

I am hoping some kind soul will take pity on me and give me some suggestions on order of lessons and amount of time to expect to spend on each. ..... I have found thousands of lessons/projects on the internet and I want to do them all – LOL- but I know there is bound to be a logical scope and sequence I should be following.....

I am just sitting in my classroom trying not to panic as time gets closer....

-Debra

Hi Debra,
I am also in the process of getting ready for the new school year. I am revamping my teaching web sites so a few of the links aren't up to date, yet. Hopefully, by next week I will be ready! Now, on to helping you with your exciting, first year of teaching. First of all, congratulations on getting a job! Now, the answer to your issues around what to teach and how to break down the curriculum between your 6th grade classes and your 7/8 classes is simple, so stop worrying! A certain amount of nervous energy will get you started, but you don't want to burn out before the first day of school!

Here are some thoughts:

1. DO THE SAME MEDIA WITH ALL CLASSES (with some differentiation for age/ interest/ ability/ state standards.)
2. Choose YOUR favorite medium (if you're excited, the kiddos will be excited.)
3. Then, choose several open-ended projects of various levels of difficulty. For instance, I will start with clay (my fav and middle school kids, as well) My classes are combined 7/8. Your 6th graders could do a simple slab bowl, while your 7/8 classes could make lidded boxes. A 2D example might be to have the kids do self-portraits, 6th grade could do "backwards" portraits while 7/8 would do more traditional portraits. So, your drawing lessons for 6th would focus on, for example, line, texture and space, while with upper classes you could add proportion. This would start to give you a progression for future years. You can do this with any media and any project.
4. Then, pull your learning targets or lesson objectives out of the project, so, look at your state standards, break them down into specific lesson objectives eg what your students will know and be able to do from the lesson. Choose maybe two or three to address in your first unit. The learning targets will be similar for each of the grades, but the assessment criteria will be more in depth as the students get older. Just adjust the quantity/ assessment criteria for 6th versus your 7/8 class.
5. Over the course of the year you will have time to start to think about future years. If you design a three year rotation on projects, then you won't have to worry about repeat students. For instance, if you start this year with portraiture, then next year your first unit could be printmaking. You use the same learning targets adjusted by grade level, but different projects/ media. Year four you start the sequence over again.

Art Centers

I am reworking some Power Point slides from my clay pendants unit to create six elements of art "Exploration Stations" for independent student work prior to beginning the clay pendants project.

I am planning for this to be my opening unit when school starts in September. This is a big experiment. I'm sure management will be the biggest issue, but I'm hoping that students will enjoy the freedom of moving from station to station at their own pace.

Pictured here are a few of the stations I intend to set up. A link to the pdf of all six stations along with some of the lesson resources is available on my classroom site, Ms. Wilson's Art Room. Or go straight to the pdf here. Just be forewarned, the art centers are NOT teacher tested yet. Check back sometime later this fall and I will let you know how it's going! To access the complete lesson click on the clay pendants unit above.

Exploration Art Stations

Ceramic Peace Pendant, 8th Grader

Days are shorter, nights are cooler, the garden harvest has slowed. Mid-August and school is soon upon us. Over twenty years in the classroom and I'm still excited about a new school year.

This year I am trying something new. I want to loosen things up a bit in the art room, so I'm going to begin the year with Exploration Stations. I will have six areas set up, each with different media and a focus on a different element or elements of art such as line, color, texture, shape.

I will also have i-pads at most of the stations used to deliver some of the content and provide opportunities for some of the art exercises using drawing apps.

Students will work their way from area to area at their own pace. I know this will appeal to students' desire to be more independent, social and, hopefully, more engaged. I will let you know how it goes!

A Little Art Horse History

Getting ready for back to school after a relaxing spring vacation. We will learn a little bit about Deborah Butterfield's horses and horses in art history in the video below. Then, we'll read about Butterfield and compare her work with Giacometti in preparation for creating animal sculptures. We've used wire to create sculptures as well as sticks this year, now I'm running low on materials. Sticks are free for the gathering, but the hot glue is pricey. Not sure what we'll use to build our animals this final term. Check back in a few weeks to see what we come up with!

This project was so fun! Here are a couple examples of the student art work:

"The Fox" sticks, bark, pine needles, hot glue

"Porcupine" sticks, twine, pine needles, hot glue

Collage Sketch Book Cover

A new term starts tomorrow. 100+ new students. I've been fine tuning a collage project this year for the sketch book cover we will begin this week. I find that clearly defined parameters actually help students relax and create more freely. I present them with a problem to solve, commission them, if you will, to produce art within the context of a "big idea" or in this case a set of characteristics their sketch book cover art work must exhibit.

Kari's Fun Art Lessons YouTube channel

Wow, have I been having fun lately! Click on the YouTube link on the video above to see it in full HD. I've wanted to create a set of demonstration videos for my art, writing and technology classes for awhile now. At last, my YouTube channel is up and running. Here's a link to karisfunartlesson channel.
The past few weeks I was out of the classroom for several days on school business. It was great to have demonstration videos prepared for my sub to use.  In fact, I got quite a laugh today when a student mentioned something I'd shown her how to do, insisting that I had been there, when in fact it was just the "digital me." I had to actually show her the video to convince her that I had been gone. I was just glad she paid such close attention to the ceramic glazing steps!
I am adding several videos each week, so check my channel and see if there's anything useful for your own teaching or art making activities!